Chapter 04

The masked man looked at the scene from a distance, from there he watched Sasuke and the girl with his observant eye while the other remained concealed by his hair. He enjoyed the show, really he did. But unfortunately, the show must come to an end. Kakashi knew that his boss's orders were absolute, he is to locate Sasuke and 'drag' him back to Orochimaru.

A sigh escaped his lips as he turned his head to the sitting beast from his right who was waiting patiently for a command. The man reached out his hand to the canine's head and gave the ginormous beast a light pat, the dog automatically lowered its head down to his master. Kakashi leaned near to the canine's ear and mumbled.

"On my mark, I want you to –"

The hound nudged the man's arm with it's snout to show its confirmation, Kakashi gave one last ruffle on the dog's head before he stood up. Another sigh escaped his lips as he looked back down at the lovely scene, "Fetch."

"S-sa…suke."

Everything was silent, all that can be heard was Hinata's heart beating rapidly. The poor girl tried her best to calm down, forcing herself to take deep breaths but failed to do so. She couldn't do anything, all Hinata could do was stay still as a rock and just stare.

B-bump

She could feel that dreaded thing in her chest beating faster every second, Sasuke tilted his head, his hold on her hand tightened. Her body tensed…

B-bump, b-bump

Heat hastily spread across her delicate pale face when Sasuke's lips gently brushed against her warm palm. She gulped.

B-bump, b-bump, b-bump

His dark eyes held tranquility, but was quickly replaced with something else, something wild. In a split second, Sasuke lunged towards to Hinata with his arms outstretched.

B-bump!

The boy's lean arms wrapped themselves securely around her frame, his cheek grazed against her own, and his rough chest soon met hers. The force sent the two to hover above the bed. A crashing sound was heard. Hinata's eyes were fixed on the ceiling, and from there she could see fine shards of glass twinkling in the sun's faint rays above them.

"wh... what?"

They came down on the floor with a thud, the girl whimpered when she felt the throbbing pain on her head once again. She felt something breathing on her cheek, the Hyuuga hesitantly opened her eyes to see what was happening. That's when she noticed that Sasuke's face was inches close to hers, she could feel her own heart beating... fast. She also noted that his hold on her did not loosen one bit, the fact that he was in close rage with her made her uncomfortable – very uncomfortable.

She wiggled her arms free from Sasuke's embrace and placed her hands on his chest to lift him off herself.

"S-sasuke, can you please g-get off?" She gave another forceful push, hoping that he'll give her some space. But he didn't move, not even an inch. She looked up at his eyes, he was glaring at something. But what exactly is he glaring at? She followed his gaze, fear struck her in an instant. There, standing in front of them stood, a monster.

The creature gave out a growl, its amber eyes focused on Sasuke... Without hesitation, it lunged forward with its jaws wide open. Sasuke held the girl close him as he dodged the beast's attack. The large figure collided itself to the book shelf and the small lamp stand posted next to it. The mutt stumbled down to the floor, it regained posture with haste and violently shook off the debris and books that fell on its back.

The creature's eyes automatically found the two kids again, the girl's face remained hidden from the hound's glare against the folds of the boy's jacket. She was shivering like a leaf, purely petrified.A small smirk itched its way to Sasuke's lips, mocking the canine at his failure. That small action triggered something in the Canine, it lunged forward again without warning, its claws and jaws bare.

The boy took action and leaped through the air, his foot landed on top of the dog's head, and with a good leap, the two kids managed escaped through the window. The beast stumbled forward at the force, meeting the bed side face first. The creature quickly shook it's head and recovered himself from the impact. Bloodshot eyes faced on the back of the two retreating figures. Another growl was made, in a split second, the room was empty and silent once again.

Hinata was now... hyperventilating. She gripped onto Sasuke's jacket with quivering hands as the wind whipped their faces.

"Wh-what... was... th-that!"

"A hound." he said with no falter as he leapt off from a nearby tree branch.

The girl's eyes widened, "A-a hound? B-but that's no d-dog, that's more like... a big w-wolf!"

The boy shook his head, "They may look like a wolf. But they are beyond that, they are larger and – much more deadly than a mere wolf. They are corrupted, mutated."

Hinata was quiet for a moment, "M-mu... tated? H-how did you know?"

He said nothing in return, his eyes grew distant, distracted. He looked lost, as if his mind has somehow slipped away from reality, from Hinata. She looked up at him with confusion, "Sas-" a loud bark interrupted her, it was obvious that the hound had already caught up to them.

The boy was brought back from his stupor at the sound, he voice returned with a instructive tone, "Hold on."

Hinata did so without any complaint.

Sasuke quickened his pace, his eyes flickered at what lied ahead of them. He gave one big leap, Hinata let out startled shriek and clutched onto him even tighter. She gasped as they approached a building that stood within the planted trees. The large track field caught her eyes, along with the familiar rusted iron gates with a large sign with the name of the establishment. This was her school, Konoha Highschool.

A firm jolt knocked her from her thoughts, she looked at her surroundings and noted that they were on the roof top of her school. The boy laid the girl behind one of the large air vents.

"Stay put, and remain hidden." He walked off and left her there.

Hinata extended her hand, trying to stop him from walking any further. But her hand quickly retreated at the sight of their monstrous pursuer. She backed away on pure impulse and hid in fear. Hinata felt the cold vent touch her back, her body now completely hidden, out of sight. Her heart was pounding again, she could feel her lungs hurting, burning, she gasped suddenly. Hinata found her self clenching onto her shirt as well as a her skin underneath, the Hyuuga didn't realize that she was holding her breath. Yeah, she was completely terrified.

But once again, curiosity got the best of her. She didn't fight the urge to peek out from the side of the vent.

Big mistake.

His cold menacing glare was aimed straight at the canine as he approached the beast. The hound wasn't affected by the boy's intimidating glare at all, the dog was determined to take down the boy, so without hesitation, the beast stepped forward to his objective.

After a couple of steps, Sasuke stopped from his tracks. The canine however did not, it continued its pace, circling the boy in hopes that doing so would intimidate him.

The boy closed his eyes in a heartbeat.

He inhaled the cold morning air and exhaled with annoyance, the beast's ears perked up and in a split second. It dashed towards the boy with its jaws wide open, ready to take a bite on the boy's very own flesh. At that moment, his eye lids shot up, the dark emotionless eyes no longer present. The color of his eyes started to melt away, revealing a new color... crimson red. Two slithering figures surfaced from his blood pooled eyes as they swirled around his dark pupils.

A word silently escaped his lips, "Sharingan."

Kakashi recorded his observation down on to his little note pad. The wind pushed the corner of the paper, which made the man screw up on one of the letterings.

With a flinch of his fingers, the pencil flipped in one quick motion. He began erasing the deformed letter, however his rubbing came to a stop when his observant eye spotted the girl once again. His fingers unknowingly gripped on too hard for the little pencil to bear, "...crap."

Time moved slow to him, giving the boy the advantage to this little fight. The beast didn't see the boy move to the other side, which resulted the creature to miss his target. This angered the hound, again the dog charged for Sasuke, and just like before... the attack was evaded. Again, and again, and again.

From a fair distance, Hinata was simply amazed at how Sasuke avoided the large dog's attacks. Captivated by his swift movements, she was at lost for words. She held on the side of the cold air vent tighter, she watched both of the figures intently. A slight chill ran up her spine when she saw the smile on the boy's face.

After the countless dodges, the boy had about enough. Just when the hound was just centimeters away from gnawing at Sasuke's flesh, he punched the dog right dead square on the snout, making it stumble down backwards on the cold floor. It skidded until the dog's body met against the concrete border that prevent it from falling off the roof. From there, the hound laid motionless and still, the boy made his way to the assumed dead body of the hound.

But before his cat senses could warn him, the creature instantly twisted itself around and managed to swipe his claws at the boy. Sasuke acted on impulse and jumped back to evade the surprise attack, he did so with little success. He felt something graze his stomach, the boy couldn't prevent the hiss from escaping his lips.

Sasuke immediately examined the damage on his chest, clearly not pleased at what was done by the hound. the boy clenched his fist unknowingly until it started shaking. Before the hound lashed out at the boy again, the air was knocked right out from its lungs. Apparently Sasuke gave the beast a good round house kick on the chest, the force of it was strong by the audible crack of the dog's rib cage. The beast met the floor, hard.

The boy looked down at the poor hound, he could hear it's whimpering, it's limbs trembling, its nose twitched violently at every greedy inhale for air. Such a sad state to witness, if only there was a way to set the poor thing free. The boy simply nudged the canine's side with his foot, making it roll on its belly, exposing it back to him.

The boy gently rested his foot on the center center and applied some pressure on his heel, more crackling sounds were made that sent shivers and goosebumps throughout the boy's whole body. The feeling of the dog's resistance under his foot made the corners of his lips twitch upwards even more.

From behind the boy's back, the girl sat there fear stricken. Her hands were quivering, unsteady... yet they've still managed to stay glued to her lips. Her throat has grown dry and tired from the multiple urges to puke out her dinner, she was doing well until the fourth time. Dried tear trails were quickly covered and retraced by more tears, the site was just unbearable.

The whines, the snapping of bones, and the smell of blood engulfed her senses.

"N-no."

The dark pool under the dog's body began to expand, its eyes slowly losing its blood lust glow.

"s-stop..."

Hinata could hear the dog's devastating whines increasing in volume.

She couldn't take it any more.

She abandoned her spot and headed straight to Sasuke, she could've thought of a thousand ways to stop the boy, but sadly she didn't have the time nor the mental strength to think up of anything better than what she was about to do. Out of the all the possible things that any normal person would do in the situation, the girl resolved to covering the boy's eyes with her hands immediately as her body collided to his. The sudden jolt made Sasuke stop, his smile vanished in an instant.

" Stop! P-please...don't."

The boy stood stock still as the sudden rush dissolved at the sound of her voice. It sounded so shaky, so scared, so broken. Her throat was burning, but she paid no attention to it. Her fingers twitched above his eyelids.

"N-no m-more of this... so please, stop."

She buried her face onto his back, her sniffling muffled by the fabric of the jacket. The boy lifted his foot off of the hound as reality welcomed the boy. He muttered out the girl's name. To which the Hyuuga girl perked up in recognition of the boy's monotonous voice.

"Hinata?"

He felt so... confused, but as the memory of the event rushed into his mind, his fists tightened when realization hit him. She saw him... Hinata saw him. He felt so exposed, so ashamed. But those thoughts quickly vanished when Hinata quickly lifted her hands off the boy's face. The light of the morning sky stung his eyes instantly.

The next thing he knew, two small hands cupped his cheeks. He was forced to face at the girl, the boy instantly noticed that her eyes were awfully wet, and her nose and cheeks were abnormally red.

Hinata scanned his face and saw that his eyes were now back to its original color... Onyx. Relief washed over her hastily, she then guided Sasuke's face downwards to hers, making both of their foreheads to touch.

The boy hesitated for a moment, "Hinata?"

The girl didn't fight the sigh from escaping her lips, "Th-thank goodness."

The boy was speechless. Why... isn't she disgusted, terrified, afraid? Why?

"Why?" he asked as he looked down at her eyes, they held no fear, disgust, nothing but relief. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "Aren't you scared?" Hinata couldn't help but nod hesitantly, "A-actually yes... I a-am."

Sasuke's eyes casted downwards. Afraid to look back at her, but Hinata's hands twitched against his cheeks, bringing his attention back at the Hyuuga.

"But... That doesn't mean that, I'm fully afraid of you."

Sasuke noticed that the girl did not stutter at her last sentence, which was a first for him. He couldn't help but lean against her hand and let out a low contented noise. The small smile crept back at her lips at the familiar gesture that resembled the black cat.

"W-we should go."

Kakashi walked towards the hound, barely alive. He stopped right in front of the poor creature. He bent down and gently stroke the side of its face.

"shhh... it's alright, you did a fine job." With that said, the dog stopped it's whining and succumbed to slumber. The man stood back up again and took out his little notepad. Due to his sharp hearing, he was able to identify the girl's name through their small conversation. Hinata, the odd fragile girl who single handily stopped Sasuke from his rampage.

Kakashi recalled the order that he had given to the hound inside his mind...

"On my mark, I want you to get in there and attack Sasuke, but not the girl? You must let the boy activate his Sharingan... to scare her. So that she will never come near to Sasuke again, we need her to get off of this by fear, understood?"

That was his plan, his plan on getting the girl out of this dangerous business in which she is completely unaware of. But seeing that the hound did what he was told, his so called "plan" failed, surprisingly. He would have to admit, he admired the girl's courage, anyone would've fled from the gruesome site and horrid exposure of Sasuke's monstrous nature.. She was indeed a strange girl, strange enough to capture Kakashi's attention. He reached into his pocket and fished out the pencil that he wrote with not too long ago, he circled the girl's name and wrote something right under it. The message saying...

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to be continued...

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